One Crazy Summer
Book Summary:
One Crazy Summer is a story of three sisters (Delphine,
Vonetta, and Fern) who are sent to California to spend the summer with their
mother (Cecile) who left them and their father seven years ago. The girls had hopes and dreams of doing
things with their mother such as visiting Disneyland, but soon discovered that
Cecile wanted nothing to do with them and acted as though the girls were a
burden to have in her home. Rather than
receiving motherly love, the girls were told to never enter the kitchen and
were required to pick up their own takeout meals.
During
their visit, Cecile agrees to work and make flyers for three African American
men who were representatives of the Black Panthers. In exchange, they had to take the girls. The next morning, Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern
are sent off to a summer camp that was ran by the Black Panthers. It was here that the girls began to learn
more about their culture and history.
When their mother is arrested for her work, the girls slowly begin to
understand more about her and the world around them.
APA Reference of Book:
Williams-Garcia,
R. (2010). One crazy summer. New
York, NY: Amistad.
Impressions:
This
was a difficult book for me to read. Not
because I did not enjoy it, but because I felt extremely sorry for Delphine and
her sisters. It was not fair for her to
have to take on the responsibility of a motherly figure to her two sisters at
such a young age. She never truly got to
enjoy the carefree life of a child.
Cecile’s harshness towards the girls and sending them out on their own
for takeout in a strange, new city caused me to experience anger and resentment
towards this character. However, due to
the estranged relationship, I could not put this book down. I was curious to know why the girls were not
allowed in the kitchen, what was going to happen to them when Cecile got
arrested, and had hopes of the girls reconciling with their mother. While their relationship never reflected the
normal mother-daughter bond, the girls learned more about her and she made them
aware of their culture and the importance of standing up for what is right.
Professional Review:
Language Arts- Professional Journal
After several young adult novels, Williams-Garcia's first stab
at middle grade fiction is an absolute gem. Sisters Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern
are shipped from Brooklyn to Oakland during the summer of 1968 to spend time
with their estranged mother, Cecile ("They need to know her, and she needs
to know them," (p. 43) says the girls' pa). Not one for parental
responsibility, Cecile, who hasn't seen the girls in the seven years since she
abandoned her family, sends them to a summer day camp run by the Black Panther
Party. What was supposed to be a summer of Disneyland tours and trips to the
beach turns out to be much more than the girls bargained for as they find
themselves joining the Black Panther movement.
The sisters-ultra- responsible oldest sister Delphine, age 11;
attention-hungry Vonetta, age 9; and baby-doll-toting Fern, age 7-are
fantastically drawn characters with distinct (and authentic) personalities that
are developed organically through Delphine's strong first-person narrative. The
book's main strength lies in the relationship dynamics between the girls, and
the complex and shifting connections they share with their mother. Cecile is
never exactly lovable (and for the most part unlikable), but her gradual thaw
toward her girls leads to one of the most stirring and memorable finales in
recent years. Heartbreaking yet hopeful, this multi-award winner (also a
National Book Award Finalist, Newbery Honor, and Scott O'Dell Award winner)
surely is a nuanced and influential look at a pivotal period in African
American history.
Source: Bloom, S. (2014). One crazy summer [Review of the book One crazy Summer, by R.
Williams-Garcia].
Language Arts, 91(3), 195-196.
Retrieved from http://www.ncte.org/journals/la
Found through UNT’s Library Database- Book Review Digest Plus
(H.W. Wilson) on EBSCOhost
Library Uses:
I
can envision using this book in an afterschool book club with a group of fifth
graders as they learn about the civil rights movement. The discussions that could be help within
this group are sure to be exciting and engaging as the students would be the
same age as the main character, Delphine.
This would force the students to reflect and compare their own life and
responsibilities to that of others. It
would also provide an insight of how injustice has, at times, been wrongly
administered in our country. This could
open up deep conversations and lead to discussions and small actions that we
can do to help move our nation forward.
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